I have attempted to watch the great climb on the BBC iPlayer the other night. I have to say that looking on UKC and the comments made, the first two hours left me a little under whelmed. Not because the climbing wasn’t good, just the boredom of the whole thing.
I have to say that the crux of the second pitch was immense, however watching Dave then struggle with every runner, then wait as they tried to fill 20 minutes as he took a well needed rest, and then emmett take a whipper and start to jug up a rope was utterly tedious. It reinforced my opinion that one good reason that climbing shouldn’t and probably won’t be an olympic sport is that it is rather dull to watch.
If I remember the early live outside broadcasts like the one at Gogarth featured many teams of climbers all on different routes. Meaning that any dead time was filled with other live action. Rather than back stories and other accumulated footage. I commend anyone who can say that they managed to watch all 5 to 6 hours of the programme. It is neither Dave or Tim fault, they are larger than life, and extremely talented, however to expect to ‘capture’ a live first ascent then the devil is in the detail, and I would expect only the dedicated to persevere.
I thought it was interesting that the route heralded as one of the top 10 routes of its type in the world (what were the other ten?), when for those who have seen the original Al Hughes film Stron Ulladale, that captures a few climbers attempt to climb ground up a new free route on this cliff captured the spirit of climbing far more than this route. I don’t want to get into any arguments about the style of ascent the climbers were very honest about the pre-practice. However, a bit like the films Equilibrium or E11, the ‘Story’ wasn’t the actual ascent of the climb, but the path that lead to it, the mini triumphs and the tragedies that build up to the ascent.
Personally the The Great Climb seemed to lose this, or the story being told vicariously through a team of commentators just didn’t engage me. The ocassionally lame efforts to explain what exactly climbing is about or even the ability to show what trad protect is were to me poor. Given that I have to explain how equipment works to beginners probably made me over critical.
Anyway the 5 hour ‘experience’ is on iPlayer for a few more days. Although I live in hope that they will one day make a ‘Directors Cut’, so I can manage to see the edited highlights. I would be interesting to see the viewer numbers, as compared to even the 30000 hits (Sorry, Jack posted a comment UKC have 700000 hits a month, fuck thats a lot!) a month that UKC has is tiny compared to TV audiences that are measured in Millions rather than thousands.
Maybe I missed the catch in the last three hours, that would have hooked me, and revealed the point of the broadcast. I am not sure whether this will have done a service or not for climbing. Will people be running out to the local wall to follow in Dave and Tim’s footsteps, I don’t know. From what I have heard the climb was completed successfully, and congratulations to both Tim and Dave, it must have been a marathon effort (or a double marathon if the commentators are to be believed), not to mention the added stress of performing infront of the cameras whilst producers are hurraying them along.
Anyway I wonder what they got paid for the ascent? They deserve every penny, but I am under no illusion, these guys are professionals that should be paid for putting themselves through such an ordeal. I just wonder how many people think their TV Licensing fee was put to good use?